Don’t look now, Carlos Gonzalez es caliente!
Carlos Gonzalez es en fuego!
The Rockies’ star left fielder has caught fire as of late, helping his team to three victories in six games and get back to .500 at 12-12 overall.
Wednesday afternoon, with the Rockies down 1-0 in the fourth, CarGo went deep to tie the game up at one. Later in the game, his team needing him to come through again after the Dodgers scored two runs in the top of the eighth, Gonzalez smashed a two-run homer with his sweet swing to put Colorado ahead 5-3.
It looked to be the knockout blow, but the Dodgers hit back, as Dee Gordon’s double off of Rafael Betancourt scored two and tied the game up in the ninth.
In stepped Jason Giambi, who promptly went deep for a walk-off three-run homer to give the Rockies the 8-5 win and the series win over NL West leader Los Angeles.
It was a wonderful win and CarGo accounted for three of the Rockies runs Wednesday.
But that’s far from all Gonzalez has been doing from the plate lately.
The 26-year old Venezuelan has gone 12-23 (.522) over the last six games, including five homeruns, nine runs scored and 14 RBI.
Part of that production goes back to April 27, the Rockies crazy 18-9 win over the Mets a week ago. In that game, one of the most insane innings in Rockies history took place, when a total of 16 runs were scored by both teams, 11 by Colorado with the Mets committing four errors.
Gonzalez made it to the plate twice that inning, hitting a three-run homer his first time and a two-run double the second time up, tying a franchise-record of five RBIs in a single inning.
Two night’s later, a bit more Mile High Magic unfolded at Coors Field as Gonzalez belted the game-tying homerun in the 10th to keep the Rockies alive, though they eventually lost the next inning.
The next night, CarGo made an impact all over the yard, going 2-3 with two runs and RBIs each.
No doubt about it, Carlos Gonzalez—who has the arguably the sweetest swing in all of baseball—is on fire and it’s benefiting his team.
The Rockies now sit at 12-12 overall, a decent beginning of the season for the usual slow-starting team, but still 4.5 games behind LA in first.
CarGo’s carried the team the last week, but others must also chip in—like the Great Giambino Wednesday—for Colorado to play consistent winning baseball and move up the standings.
Rich Kurtzman is a freelance journalist. Follow him on twitter and/or facebook for breaking news, links to articles and need-to-know info on everything Colorado sports related.
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3 comments
Kevin Kroh
May 2, 2012 at 11:07 PM (UTC -6)
Beautiful day at the ballpark today! Cargo is indeed molten hot. The final score is a bit misleading, though — this was a pitcher’s duel for 7 innings, and Pomeranz was matching Kershaw every step of the way (even if he needed 30 more pitches to do so). Fowler came up big with a game-tying RBI in the 8th, and Cargo stole the show by hitting his second homer off Kershaw — an absolute rope to right-center. Giambi added the encore everybody sensed was coming, and the Rox got a rare series win against the dreaded Dodgers.
What a way to say adios to Coors Field for this season. Hope to be back next year.
Rich Kurtzman
May 2, 2012 at 11:27 PM (UTC -6)
This must have been an awesome game to be at in person Kevin! Lucky man. Thanks for the recount!
CodenameDuchess
May 3, 2012 at 2:38 PM (UTC -6)
When he is on there might not be a more exciting player in baseball. Screw Pedroia, Cargo should own the nickname “Laser show”. Everything off his bat lately has been smoked.